One Little Secret
by Artemis J. Halk
Summary: Part 4/? of my "All Grown Up" series. On the one year anniversary of his relationship with Marinette, Adrien decides that he needs to tell her about a secret that he's kept for well over a decade. However, he wasn't expecting for Marinette to have a similar secret.


In case anybody was wondering about all of this. I figure that they defeated Hawk Moth when they were still in high school, and it's about ten years from the time that they first got their Miraculouses. So I'm putting their ages at 25/26 in this future jump.

* * *

"Plagg, today's the day," Adrien said firmly. "Today's the day that I'm going to tell Marinette that I'm Chat Noir."

Plagg barely cracked an eye open at the statement. Adrien had been debating on if he should tell his girlfriend about his secret identity for a while now, and so far, nothing had ever come of it. The man was such a chicken when it came to it, and he'd always back down at the last second.

"No, I'm serious now! Today's the one year anniversary of Marinette offering me an apprenticeship with her father. If I don't tell her about this today, then I never will."

"Why does it even matter if you tell her or not?" Plagg said around a huge yawn. "Ever since you and Ladybug defeated Hawk Moth, things have been super quiet. You've only transformed whenever you felt like your responsibilities were starting to crush you. And even then, after you met Marinette, you haven't even done that."

"That's because I've been so happy with her," Adrien said. "And couples don't keep huge secrets like this from each other. I'm going to tell her. I asked Tom for the day off today, and I'm going to make her a great lunch and then I'll tell her."

"You know, when you told Tom that you had something important to discuss with Marinette, he probably thought that you were going to propose," Plagg said boredly.

Adrien's face flushed. "What? Why would he think that?"

"Hello? Have you seen what they've done with Marinette's old room?" Plagg said with a roll of his eyes. Adrien flushed further as he thought of how Sabine and Tom were slowly transforming Marinette's childhood bedroom into a children's playroom-slash-nursery. It was obvious that the older couple had grandchildren on their mind, so it made sense that Tom would think that Adrien would propose to Marinette soon.

"Well, I don't think that either of us are thinking about children right now," Adrien said with an irritated huff. "I'm still working on my apprenticeship and I've got a long way to go before they hand the reigns over to me. And Marinette's still struggling to get her designs kicked off. The shop is floundering enough as it is. I don't want to pressure her into marriage and children on top of everything else."

"This is true, but explain that to her parents," Plagg said.

"Adrien?" Marinette called out from the stairs that led down to her shop. Adrien held out his jacket and Plagg flew into the inner pocket. He then left the bedroom, and Marinette frowned slightly at him. "Who were you talking to?"

"Nobody," he said quickly, and her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "I mean, you know! Myself!" He laughed nervously, and then heaved a deep sigh.

"What's wrong? You said that you had something important to tell me?" she pressed.

"Ah, yes! Come, please, sit down," Adrien said as he gestured to the sofa. Marinette sat, but Adrien couldn't sit still. He paced restlessly in front of her, trying to work up the nerve.

"Okay, just spit it out already! Whatever you have to say can't possibly be that bad!" Marinette said a little anxiously. "Is it?"

"Uh, no! It's not bad! Just maybe… startling, I suppose?" he stammered out. He finally came to a stop in front of her. He took a deep breath, and then said all in a rush, "Marinette, I'm Chat Noir."

Her eyes widened, and then she burst out laughing. That… was not the reaction that he'd been expecting.

"Chat Noir? You can't possibly be serious, Adrien!" she giggled.

He'd known that she wouldn't believe him if he just said it, so he'd counted on transforming. "Plagg, claws out!" Adrien cried out. He was engulfed in a green light and then he was wearing his familiar costume.

That stopped the laugher on Marinette's lips. She stared at him, wide eyed, like a deer caught in the headlights.

"M-Marinette?" he stammered out. His heart pounded heavily against his chest. This had ruined everything.

She silently stood and he let her go. She was going to leave. He should have never told her. He wished that he could just undo the past twenty-four hours and actually-

Mairinette opened up a drawer and something small and red flew out. "Tikki, spots on!" Marinette cried out. She was engulfed in a familiar pink light, and when it faded, Ladybug stood before him.

Adrien's knees felt weak and he collapsed onto the coffee table. "You…" he started, completely unable to wrap his mind around this.

Marinette.

Marinette was…?

"I'm Ladybug," she admitted with a sheepish look on her face.

Adrien was on his feet in a flash and pounced for her. Her back slammed against the wall, but he knew that as Ladybug, she'd taken worse hits before. After all, the suits took most of the damage.

His lips were on hers, and her fingers were tangled in his hair.

"Marinette," he whined against her lips. "Do you have any idea of how completely in love with you that I was?!" His voice got louder with every word until he shouting.

"And you don't think that I didn't know that?!" Marinette fired back. The volume of her voice matched his own. She looked away from him. "I just… I never actually thought that it could be you, you know? After all, how many blond-haired, green-eyed, skinny, teenage boys could there be in Paris?"

"I gave you more than enough clues to find me!" Adrien exclaimed. "Fuck, I wanted you to find me! I all but hired a sky writer to spell it out for you, Marinette!"

Marinette's gaze darkened. "And maybe I should say the same of you," she said bitterly as she poked him in the chest. "Maybe I was a little less obvious about it, but all of those times when we were at the school and there was an attack… How could you not notice?!"

"How could YOU not notice?!" Adrien fired back.

They glared at each other for a tense moment before they both burst out laughing. They laughed so hard that tears came to their eyes.

"Jeez," Marinette wheezed as she wiped tears from her eyes. "We're nothing but a couple of idiots, you know that?"

Adrien made a dismissive clicking noise with his tongue and rolled his eyes. "You can say that again." He offered Marinette a sly smile and gently cupped her head between his hands. "Do you know how much that I want you right now? Ever since I got my ring, I've been so madly in love with Ladybug. I thought that it would go away after time, especially when I left Paris and had to leave her— you— behind. But I always felt like I couldn't get close to anybody because nobody else would understand what it means to be Chat. But then, that day in the hotel bar, a year ago today… I felt like something was just right to see you again. And I thought that maybe I could allow myself to be happy, and I was. I used to go patrol the streets of whatever city that I was in as Chat, helping to stop petty crimes and such. Because whenever things got to be too much for Adrien, I could always become Chat. And Adrien's problems always seemed…"

"Less?" Marinette suggested.

"Yes!" Adrien agreed quickly. "And I know that putting them off isn't exactly the most healthy of things to do, but it made me feel better. If only for a moment."

"Adrien…" Marinette whispered sadly. She laced her fingers with his, his hands still cupping her face. He leaned in and kissed her gently.

"I'm okay, Mar," he said as he offered her a small smile. He pulled away from her and took a step back. "Actually, that explains all of the interviews with Alya over the years."

Marinette giggled. "Yeah. I kept messing up with her in one way or another, and so I'd present her with an opportunity to interview Ladybug to make it up to her." Marinette shook her head. "She doesn't know. Still doesn't."

"I'm glad that this all worked out in the end, though," Adrien said after a moment of silence. "Do you feel like we're soul mates now or something? That there was a reason why the two of us were picked? Because we were meant to end up together?"

"The romantic in me says yes, but the realist in me says that there's no such thing," Marinette said. She looked down at her red and black polka-dot clad arms. "But the part of me that transforms into a ladybug-themed super hero to fight off evil butterflies says yes."

Their eyes met and they laughed again over that.

When their giggles died down, Marinette reached over and flicked the bell around Chat's neck. "So, now what do we do?"

"Want to go zip around Paris again? For old time's sake?"

"Hm, maybe, but it's the middle of the afternoon," Marinette said with a blank shrug. "Wouldn't people worry if they saw us out and about after all this time? That there was some new evil on the loose, and that's the reason why we came back?"

"Yeah, maybe people would worry, but I think people would be happy to see us again," Adrien said with a smirk. "Don't you keep up with the Ladyblog?"

"Yes, but mostly just news about what Chat's— you're— up to. After a while, it became a bit of a game of 'Where's Waldo?', but it was 'Where's Chat?' instead. I didn't go to the forums and I didn't read the comments. It's like reading youtube comments." She rolled her eyes. "Better for all of our sanity. Well… mine and yours, mostly."

"Yeah, but I was always so curious as to what you were up to," Adrien said with a shrug. "The comments were sometimes pretty gross, but you'd been absent ever since we finally defeated Hawk Moth. And then after I left Paris, I wanted to know if there'd been any sightings at all. It was my only real link to you." He shook his head slightly and ran a gloved hand through his hair. "I should have come back a long time ago."

"Adrien, don't say that. Don't beat yourself up over what your father pushed you into doing. None of that is your fault," Marinette said gently.

"I know, but you don't just get over a life-time of believing that it's all true… over a year," Adrien said. He then flashed Marinette a coy smile before he grabbed her arm and pulled her into him. She gave a sharp yelp of surprise and stumbled into his arms. "Well then, my bugaboo. Since you've rejected my idea of going around the city once more, how about if you help me to fulfill one of my longest-standing fantasies? Staring you."

She returned his smirk and wrapped her arms around his neck. "You know, if you'd said that to me before, I would have totally punched you out and had zero regrets about it."

Adrien leaned in close, and Marinette closed her eyes in preparation for a kiss. However, she cracked an eye open when it didn't come, and frowned at the cocky look on his face. "And now?"

"Well, I would kick you out for eating crackers in bed," Marinette said slyly before she closed the distance between them. They kissed passionately. Adrien lightly nipped at Marinette's lower lip.

After a moment, Marinette pushed on Adrien's shoulders and he pulled away slightly. "What is it? What's wrong?"

"One tiny problem," Marinette said. She tugged on the neck of her costume, and it barely budged. "These don't come off."

"Oh," Adrien said lowly. "This was never a problem in any of my fantasies."

"Well," Marinette said as she offered him a sweet smile. "Maybe in reality, we figured out who the other was."

"Or maybe we just decided to tell one another, and we were more than a little surprised to find out that it had been the person that we'd been crushing on all along," Adrien said. He offered her a flirtatious wink.

With her arms still wrapped loosely around Adrien's waist, Marinette detransformed. A second later, Adrien did so as well.

"Ugh, it's about time!" Plagg complained as he came zooming out of Adrien's ring. "And I don't just mean about you letting us leave! I mean about how you finally told one another your secrets!"

"Yes, it's been getting pretty awkward," Tikki said as she hovered near Marinette's shoulder.

"Wait, you mean that you guys knew about this? This entire time?!" Marinette asked Tikki with some surprise.

"How could I not know?!" Plagg said. He ears flattened backwards and he gave Tikki a bashful look. She offered the cat kwami a shy smile in return.

"Gross!" Marinette and Adrien said in near unison.

"Says the couple who's about to go bang some more. Probably in some gross costumes Marinette made," Plagg said. He and Tikki zoomed away down the stairs to Marinette's shop.

"Really?" Adrien eagerly asked with a cocked eyebrow. "You have costumes?"

"Um, no, not really," Marinette said slowly. "Ah! But something like that! Come with me!"

She dragged him into the bedroom, where she then started to dig through their clothes. She tossed him a black pair of boxer-briefs, followed by some black winter gloves and black boots.

"Ah, but would the gloves be too much? They're sort of thick," Marinette said after a moment of thought.

"Yeah, I can just put the others on instead," Adrien agreed as he dropped the gloves back into their closet.

"Change and wait for me," Marinette said as she dashed from the room.

Adrien quickly shed his clothes and pulled on the clothes Marinette had dug out for him. Without anything else to do, he lay on the bed and smiled to himself.

Never in a million years had he imagined that his crush turned lover turned long-time girlfriend would turn out to be Ladybug. Although, now that Adrien knew the truth, he thought that perhaps he had been a little blind to the truth. Much like Marinette had said about his own identity, Adrien hadn't wanted to tell himself that Marinette was Ladybug. After all, how many black-haired, blue-eyed teenage girls could there possibly be in Paris?

"Adrien?" Marinette called from the front room. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah," he agreed. His excitement was mounting as he tried to imagine what Marinette had thrown together for her own sexy Ladybug costume.

Marinette stepped into the room and Adrien's jaw dropped. She wore a simple red and black polka-dot lingerie set, but she'd put on a matching, floor-length negligee. The look was completed with a pair of red heels that made her legs look like they went on for miles. Even though Marinette's hair was a lot longer now than it had been when she was in high school, she'd still pulled her hair back into two, long ponytails, tied back with lengths of red ribbon.

"Me-wow," Adrien breathed as he took her in.

"Oh jeez, I'd almost completely forgotten all about your shitty cat puns," Marinette said as she pressed a hand to her temple in irritation.

"Oh come on, bugaboo. My cat puns are purr comedy gold!"

Marinette turned around with her hands up with frustration. "If that's how you're going to be, Chat…"

Adrien jumped to his feet and was at her side in a second. "Come on, My Lady," he whispered as he grabbed her hand gently. He kissed the back of it, and offered her a smoldering look. "You know that I make you laugh."

She offered him a faint smile, letting him know that she found it more amusing than she let on. "Maybe," she admitted quietly.

He spun her around before he dipped her down and kissed her soundly. Her fingers ran through his hair before they laced behind his neck. He picked her up, bridal style, and carried her over to the bed, where he gently laid her down.

Marinette didn't release her hold around his neck, however, and he continued to kiss her as he climbed on top of her.

Adrien's fingers fumbled with the sash that held the sheer robe closed around her waist. When he finally got the simple knot undone, he parted the fabric and ran his hand up Marinette's bare legs to the bottom of her breasts.

"You have no idea how long that I've waited for this moment," Adrien whispered against her lips.

Marinette giggled softly. "But this isn't our first time together. In fact, I do recall you mentioning earlier that it's our one year anniversary." She rubbed her nose against his affectionately.

"Yes, it is, and it's true that Adrien and Marinette have had many, many heated and passionate moments together," Adrien said as he gently grabbed Marinette's chin. "But this is the first time for Ladybug and Chat."

"Well then," Marinette said slowly. Her finger slid from behind Adrien's neck down to the front, where her finger dipped across his clavicle and trekked down to his stomach. "I suppose that we'll just have to figure out the things that the other enjoys." Her hand boldly cupped the obvious bulge in Adrien's boxer-briefs, and she offered him a cocky smirk, which he was quick to return.

She shoved his boxers down and took his cock in her hands. Adrien let out a low groan and moved so that he was lying across Marinette's legs. She released her hold on him long enough so that she could move out from under him and get into a more comfortable position. She then leaned over him and put her mouth near his dick.

Adrien closed his eyes and waited impatiently for the feel of her wonderful mouth around him, but it never came. He could feel her hot breath against his erection, and with every gentle exhale, it made his cock twitch. He finally opened his eyes, and met with Marinette's blue eyes.

"I don't want you to look away from me, Chat," she whispered. She tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear before she gently took the tip of Adrien's dick into her mouth.

Her top teeth lightly grazed over the head before her tongue moved along to sooth the skin there. Adrien's eyes slid closed and he let out a loud groan of pleasure at the sensation. However, the noise quickly turned to disappointment as Marinette pulled away a second later.

"Didn't I just tell you to keep your eyes on me?" Marinette all but purred. She gave him a saucy wink before she took all of him into her mouth. All without breaking eye contact.

As she started to move her mouth against him, her teeth occasionally scraping against him, and sometimes humming, she never once broke eye contact. It was, hands down, the hottest thing Adrien had ever experienced in bed with Marinette. They'd done a lot of experimenting, trying to figure out what the other liked, and discovered several hidden pleasures that not even they'd known about.

This, however, was now going to be his number one most requested sex move in the future. Especially if Marinette wore more Ladybug lingerie.

"L-Ladybug," Adrien gasped out after a while. "I… I'm going to…"

Marinette pulled away from him. "Come for me, Chat," she whispered before she took him back into his mouth again. Adrien's eyes fluttered closed and his fingers fisted into her hair as he came into her mouth.

She quickly lapped all of his cum up, and cleaned his cock with her tongue. "With your sub-purr-b cleaning skills, bugaboo, it's hard to say if you're a bug or a cat," Adrien mumbled sleepily.

"Oh, but now my Chat needs to recharge," Marinette whispered as she crawled up to his face. She gently kissed him, her lips saltier than usual thanks to his cum. It was an attractive taste on her, Adrien thought. For sure that he'd be requesting this again.

"Yes, but I know something that'll get me back on my feet faster than Camembert," Adrien said as he flashed her a wink.

"Camembert?" Marinette asked with confusion.

"Yeah, it's what Plagg likes to eat in order to recharge," Adrien explained.

"Oh, that explains why there's always hidden stashes of it around the apartment! I'll stop throwing it away then!" Marinette said with a giggle.

"Why? What does… Um…"

"Tikki? She likes to eat cookies. Especially chocolate chip."

"Why couldn't I have gotten stuck with chocolate chip cookies or something normal? Do you know how expensive it is to constantly have a never-ending supply of Camembert on hand, in case of an emergency? Plus, I can never get the smell out of anything! Never quite fully!" Adrien threw his head back in frustration.

Above him, Marinette giggled softly. "Yes, poor you, having to take care of your kwami who gave you super powers," she said with a roll of her eyes.

"You say that now, but after you get to know Plagg, you'll start to feel sorry that I had to spend the past decade alone with him! I'm basically his only friend!" Adrien protested. He paused. "Aside from Tikki, I guess."

Marinette pulled a face. "Let's not discuss the love lives of our Kwami. Please."

"As you wish, my lady," Adrien purred. He wrapped his arm around Marinette and kissed her tenderly. The gentle kiss quickly turned into one of passion, of want and need.

"Oh my, looks like it didn't take you too long to recover at all," Marinette said a bit breathlessly.

"Mm, I think that I need some more time, though," Adrien whispered against her lips. As they continued to kiss, Adrien pulled the negligee off of her shoulders, and dropped it at the foot of the bed. "Ah, my lady, my bugaboo. I've waited more than a decade to have you. And I don't want to wait a moment longer!"

Marinette moved away from him and reached into the nightstand where they kept the condoms. She pulled one out, ripped the package open, and rolled it on over his cock, which was rock hard again. Adrien struggled to pull off his boxer-briefs completely as she did so, and he dropped the garment over the discarded negligee.

Adrien then picked Marinette up off the bed by the back of her legs and carried over over to the nearest wall. He pressed her up against and kissed her roughly as he did so. "Mm, I've always wanted to fuck my lady up against a wall like this," he purred against her lips.

"Oh yeah?" Marinette asked as she wrapped her legs around his waist. She moved her hips just so, and teased his dick with the moisture that was all over the outside of her panties now.

"Yeah," he growled lowly. "After a battle, I wouldn't be able to wait to have you. I'd pin you up against a large chimney, one that's hidden from the view of the press. After all, even though I'm all for screaming my love for you from atop the Eiffel Tower, there are some things that should always remain private."

"Good, because I don't want our sexual adventures splashed all over the Ladyblog. I would not be able to bribe Alya in order to have it taken down." Marinette offered him a hungry smile and she rocked her hips against his cock again.

Adrien let out a primitive sound of want and pulled Marinette's panties to the side. He slammed roughly into her. Marinette's lips formed a small O of pleasure before her eyes slid closed. Her head lolled back against the wall.

He started a relentless, hurried pace, pushing into her as fast and as hard as he could. Her fingers scrambled against his back, leaving small scratches.

"Seriously, who's the cat in this relationship?" Adrien panted between thrusts. Her only response was a high-pitched whine that was somewhere between pain and ecstasy.

Adrien wrapped a hand around one of Marinette's pigtails and tilted her head to the side slightly. He then bent over and started to roughly bite and suck on the side of her neck, enough to leave a hickey. "Mine," he growled. He let his tongue lap at the bruised skin, and smiled to himself.

Not like anybody was going to take Marinette from him. Or that she would leave him. But he still felt the need to mark his territory, to let the entire world know that Ladybug belonged to Chat Noir and Chat Noir alone.

Marinette's heels dug into the small of his back, urging him inside of her deeper. His pace began to slow naturally, due to how tired that he was getting. Now, he focused on making deeper but gentler thrusts.

He let go of her hair and trailed his hand down her side— pausing to cup her breast for a moment— before he reached her pussy. With his thumb, he started to massage her clit.

"Are you close, bugaboo?" he whispered against her lips.

"Mm, yeah," she agreed.

"Good, because I'm going to come soon. And I refuse to leave my lady behind."

With one flick against her clit, Marinette's back arched, and she pushed her chest roughly against Adrien's. She screamed in pleasure, and her eyes rolled back. The feel of his lover coming around his dick set Adrien off again, and he came again with a rough cry.

It was all he could do to carry them back to the bed, where they collapsed around one another in a tangled, sweaty heap.

After a moment, Adrien threw his head back and laughed soundly. "I can't believe that you're Ladybug. After all this time, we're finally together."

"You know, if I'd known that you were Chat from the get-go, I would have leapt willing into your arms," Marinette said as she rested her head on his chest. His heart was going a million miles per hour, but she knew that hers was as well.

"What?" Adrien said with some surprise.

"Yeah. I mean, haven't I told you before? I always had such a huge crush on you when we were in school. If we'd taken steps to find one another, then I wouldn't have kept you at arms length."

"But I also had no idea who you really were," Adrien said with a slight chuckle. "We're both a couple of complete and utter idiots, aren't we, bugaboo?"

As they kissed, Adrien's phone chimed with a new message on the nightstand. He pulled away from her to check what it was. "It's your dad," he said absently as he opened it.

"Did she say yes?!" Tom wrote. Adrien threw back his head and groaned with irritation. Marinette grabbed the phone to see what it was.

"Yes about what?" she asked with confusion.

"Plagg suggested that your parents are over eager for us to… um… Get married and have kids." He said the last all in a rush.

"Oh," Marinette said as her face heated up. "D-Don't get me wrong or anything, Adrien. Because I love you and I do want to spend the rest of my life for you. But… You aren't finished with your apprenticeship yet! And…" She trailed off and gave a heavy sigh. "My shop is floundering. This isn't the time for bringing kids into the picture."

"That's what I said to Plagg earlier!" Adrien exclaimed. He kissed Marinette soundly, and she was more than happy to comply. "Finding out that you're Ladybug was not the reaction that I'd ever expected in a million years, but this day has been completely purr-fect."

"And it's just a little after noon right now," Marinette said as she looked over at the clock on the nightstand. "Think of how much fun that we're going to have for the rest of the day. After all, it is our anniversary." She jumped out of bed and gathered up her negligee as she rushed out from the room.

"Marinette?" Adrien called after her lazily. He knew that look in her eyes: she had a design idea. And once she had an idea, it was hard to distract her from it, no matter what.

"I have to design! Sexy Ladybug and Chat Noir! You're going to love it!" Her voice got fainter as she dashed downstairs.

Adrien chuckled to himself and started to get dressed. He put the black boxer-briefs back on, and then put the boots back on after he'd pulled his jeans back.

Yes. Best anniversary present Marinette could have given him. Ever.

* * *

This hasn't been proof-read, so if you spot any errors, please let me know so that I can fix them! Thanks in advance!

Also, if you enjoyed this, please take a moment to leave a review! They really make my day!


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